34 



resting along the foot of this crag. From hence the same beds are continued to 

 North Sannox, where thechfts disappear. At this point the anticlinal line is very 

 obvious, and all the strata, as far as CInckland point, dip to the south, in an as- 

 cending order. Here also the primary echist thins out to such a degree as almost 

 to disappear, and the conglomerate occupies nearly the whole basin far back into 

 Glen Sannox, and may be traced even to the granitic ridge. Some of the lowest 

 beds of the conglomerate, in this region, assume very much the appearance of 

 grauwacke slate, and are traversed by dykes of greenstone. At Mid Sannox the 

 cliffs present a mural escarpment, the lines of which are nearly horizontal ; but at 

 South Sanpox they dip most decidedly to the south. Near the village of Corry 

 the conglomerate is surmounted by a white and spotted sandstone, and the conglo- 

 merate here finally disappears. Mr. Murchison, speaking of this rather singular 

 formation, says: " On a great scale it is to be viewed as a red conglomerate with 

 many subordinate beds of sandstone, which cinnot, either from the nature of the 

 pebbles or the cementing principle, be distinguished from the newer conglomerate ; 

 neither can the sandstone of the one series be described as differing from the other. 

 The existence, however, in the one deposite of beds of arenaceous grauwacke 

 slate near the bottom, and that of the cornstone in the upper part of the formation, 

 strongly identify it with the old red sandstone. Moreover, independently of any 

 such distinctive character, the intervention of the well-developed group of the car- 

 boniferous series enables us with certainty to separate the two great deposites of 

 conglomerates from each other, and to arrange them with the analogous members 

 of English geology. In one respect, however, these deposites difier materially 

 from those of the same age in England, since there appear to have been no dis- 

 turbing forces to interrupt the continuity and conformity of the beds from the base 

 of the older conglomerates, through the carboniferous series up to the highest beds 

 of the new red conglomerate — these several formations being not only parallel to, 

 but actually graduating into each other." 



At Corry there are quarries of freestone — a kind of grit, from which good flag- 

 ging-stones have been taken: but they are now nearly exhausted. The term 

 " Corry"' is G»lic, ant^signilies a deep bowl or depression in the mountains. The 

 limestone which underlies the freestone is compact, of a bluish color, aud abounds 

 with fossils, among which are the large prndticta Scoiica, the spirifer striatum, 

 cardium alseforme, and the madreporiles usually found in mountain limestone. 



The coast is covered with immense boulders of granite, which must have been 

 transported by some tremendous moving power from the mountains in the interior. 

 The granite here, where found j/» situ, is evidently intrusive, and is surrounded, 

 or rather encased, by the slat6s, whose strata have been obviously disturbed by the 

 protrusion through them of (he granite. 



The granitic mountains, rising in high and jagged peaks, present a most bold 

 and beautiful outline. Uoalsfeld, above Brodich Castle, is the highest on the 

 island, and the most striking in appearance. It is composed of a coarse-grained 

 and old granite. As we approach Brodich, after passing the lofty summits of 

 Goatsfeld, ye coast along " the great upcast oi the cool measures," where the 



